Macquarie Island Mapping Program Survey Field Work and Report Voyage 3 Round Trip November 1997

Brief description

Taken from sections of the report:

1. Introduction

This report details the survey work carried out on Macquarie Island during November 1997 by LANDINFO staff on behalf of the Australian Antarctic Division's Mapping Program. The main task of the survey team was to acquire aerial photography of the island to enable the production of a new topographic map of the island. Other tasks involved field checking the digital station area map (DSAM) and providing support to the tide gauge maintenance team.

The following team carried out the survey-mapping work:
Tom Gordon LANDINFO Surveyor
Roger Handsworth Antarctic Division Engineer

Although this report touches on the work carried out by Roger Handsworth and Rupert Summerson, it does not cover the specifics of their work.


2. Project Brief

The survey-mapping brief lists the following tasks:

1. Aerial Photography of the Island and station area.
2. Aerial Photography of Judge and Clerk Island to the south and Bishop and Clerk Island to the north of Macquarie Island.
3. Second order levelling from the tide gauge bench marks to AUS 211
4. Updating the Digital Station Area map.

These tasks are listed in order of priority. A copy of the survey brief for Macquarie Island is included in Appendix A.

Lineage

Progress Code: completed

Statement: See the report for further information.

The values provided in spatial coverage are approximate only.

AUSLIG is now known as Geoscience Australia.

Remarks

Having the aerial photography program as a high priority and the camera mount being installed during resupply was an advantage this year, but as luck would have it the weather conditions were such that no significant photography could be acquired.

The acquisition of aerial photography may have to be attempted in a different manner as suggested in previous years, by:
- Leaving a suitably equipped aircraft on the island for a short summer season, or
- Engaging a fixed wing aircraft to acquire aerial photography.

If weather conditions had been favourable, there is no doubt that with the assistance and high priority given this year, that aerial photography would have been completed. The rapidly changing weather conditions make pre-planning flights very difficult and long range attempts by fixed wing aircraft would likely encounter similar bad weather.